July 25, 2016

Up fairly early given the late night. Breakfast alone at Alabama Hills. Food assessment then goodbyes and grocery shopping. Met nobo JMT hiker (started with an r, 2 syllables) whose gave me a ride up to the trailhead with his wife. Saw a few groups on the way up and then alone once I turned to go south on the PCT. Much drier and more desert feeling. Stopped for snack at stream. Camped by fallen tree in pass.

I was once again up surprisingly early given the late night. I headed over to the Alabama Hills Cafe for breakfast again, but sat alone at the bar this time. Back to the hotel to take stock of my food situation and then on to the grocery store. Having restocked I was ready to hit the trail. The trailhead I was going in at, Crabtree Trailhead, was up the same road as the Whitney Portal and I headed over to set up with my sign. Another hiker was hanging out on a bench at the corner and I struck up a conversation with him. It turned out that he was starting the JMT north bound (against the usual flow of hikers) and was waiting for his wife to give him a lift to Crabtree and he offered to give me a ride up if I didn't mind waiting a little bit for his wife to arrive. I did not.

The ride up took longer than expected. First, we hit some road construction. No sooner had we cleared that than we were stopped again, this time because they were filming a Chevy commercial on the road ahead. I said good bye at the trailhead, feeling a little anxious about the late start. I was traveling light hoping to get to Kennedy Meadows the following afternoon and was a bit concerned about the water situation along that stretch as the water report was very stale, the herd having come through weeks before.

I saw a few groups along the 3-mile approach trail, including a stock train of horses and donkeys. Most were headed for Whitney but opting to take the more gradual way there over a few days rather than do it in one day, climbing more than 6,000 feet over 13 miles. Once I turned south on the PCT I was alone.

It was a big departure from the lush hiking in Yosemite I had just left. Here the ground was sandy, the trees stunted, and the air very dry. I was grateful for my chap stick.

The afternoon passed quickly. I crossed paths with a north bound hiker who swore there was no water for a long while. Half an hour after that I stopped for a snack break at a known stream less than 100 feet off the trail. His warnings about the lack of water still had me on edge despite this first inaccuracy.

I found a nice clearing at the top of a climb and decided to call it a day. There was a fallen tree providing some shelter from the wind and I set up next to that. I wasn't used to the quiet after the last few weeks in Yosemite. It was nice.